Brash Personality Seen as Chris Christie’s Main Asset

Image

Gov. Chris Christie at the Latino Coalition Business Summit in June. Mr. Christie is poised to use his personality to become a front-runner in the Republican presidential race.CreditAndrew Harnik/Associated Press

Mr. Christie is no longer a front-runner. Donors are not lining up at his door. Yet because of a combination of factors — not the least of which is his personality — the New Jersey governor is destined to be a factor in the 2016 presidential race, which he will officially join on Tuesday.

More than any other candidate, Mr. Christie is poised to run a race that sells his personality — brash, challenging and often combative — as his main asset. He has become a maestro of the town hall meeting, standing in a suit taking questions from New Jersey residents around the state until none remain, leaving some people enraged but many more laughing, weeping or hoping he would come over and clasp their hand.

His aides plan to use his natural gifts as a performer as their main weapon against a field in which his main competitors have either never experienced the heat of a national race, or have not run a campaign in many years.

“His speaking ability and his performance allow him to command a room the way no other candidate can,” said Scott W. Reed, the top political adviser to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The most urgent imperative for Mr. Christie is to get into the debates. The first one is being hosted by Fox News, and only candidates scoring in the top 10 in the polls will make the cut. Mr. Christie’s aides believe he will clear that threshold — and once there, he more than anyone besides Mr. Trump will make the most of his airtime.

“The debates will be interesting,” predicted William Kristol, the editor of the conservative Weekly Standard and a sometimes-critic of Mr. Christie. It will be on that stage that all will have a chance to make their mark, he said, but Mr. Christie, with his quickness and ability to read a moment, is best positioned for a breakout moment.

After the debates, assuming he makes a positive impression, Mr. Christie could potentially draw significant support in New Hampshire, where the town hall forums that he has mastered are a critical part of campaigning. Getting attention has never been one of Mr. Christie’s problems, and in New Hampshire, where candidates are almost all covered with interest by the local news media, he has a chance to make a stand.

“His speaking ability and his performance allow him to command a room the way no other candidate can,” Mr. Reed said.

Mr. Christie has suggested he will look to put down roots in Iowa. But people close to him acknowledge that the most fertile territory for him is in New Hampshire, where the type of working-class white voters with whom he has fared well in the past are more dominant.

To that end, Mr. Christie highlighted his humble personal story in a video his aides released Sunday evening, a cutaway from one of his town halls, in which he described his Irish father and Sicilian mother.

At a moment when there is a romanticizing of the white working-class voter across party lines even as that voting group’s political power has receded, Mr. Christie could have resonance.

The governor, who proudly talks about the more than 100 Bruce Springsteen concerts he has attended, is highlighting his humble personal background — working-class notes that contrast him with Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and the candidate whom others are already trying to isolate over his privileged background.

People in New Hampshire insist Mr. Christie would have a chance to make a comeback and take the state.

“I think New Hampshire is wide open, more wide open than any race I’ve seen since 1972,” said Steve Duprey, a veteran Republican operative and national committee member. “There’s no heir apparent.”

“We don’t have as many social conservatives in this state” as in Iowa, he added. “I think his style of campaigning, direct interaction with voters and all comers, he could do very well in New Hampshire.”

Mr. Christie competes most directly with Mr. Bush, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and potentially Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio, who is considering the race. Yet Mr. Walker is signaling he will most likely pin his fortunes to the Iowa caucuses, and Mr. Graham may not play well in a crowded field in a Northeastern state. That means Mr. Christie is essentially in a three-way competition with Mr. Rubio and Mr. Bush, for whom New Hampshire is seen as a must-succeed state.

Yet Mr. Christie comes with considerable baggage — his unfavorable ratings in polls are quite high, potentially leaving him little chance to be anything but a spoiler against another candidate, such as Mr. Bush.

“He has been a larger-than-life figure in Republican consciousness for how many years now?” asked Alex Castellanos, a former adviser to Mitt Romney and a frequent critic of Mr. Christie.

“We loved him because he was 400 pounds of uncontrollable nitroglycerin,” Mr. Castellanos said. “And now we fear him because he’s 400 pounds of uncontrollable nitroglycerin.”